A composite containing about 30% volume of micrometer-size powder of gadolinium in paraffin wax is synthesized mechanochemically. The composite permittivity and permeability are measured within the frequency range from 0.01 to 15 GHz and the temperature range from ~0 °C to 35 °C. The permittivity is constant within the measured ranges. Curie temperature of the composite is close to 15.5 °C, the phase transition is shown to take place within a temperature range about ±10 °C. The effect of temperature deviation from Curie point on reflection and transmission of a composite layer filled with Gd powder is studied experimentally and via simulation. Constitutive parameters of the composite are measured in cooled coaxial lines applying reflection-transmission and open-circuit-short-circuit techniques, and the measured low-frequency permeability is in agreement with the values retrieved from the published magnetization curves. The effect of temperature on permeability spectrum of the composite is described in terms of cluster magnetization model based on the Wiener mixing formula. The model is applied to design a microwave screen with variable attenuation; the reflectivity attenuation of 4.5 mm-thick screen increases from about -2 dB to -20 dB at 3.5 GHz if the temperature decreases from 25 °C to 5 °C.
Keywords: Curie temperature; Hopkinson effect; cluster magnetization; microwave permeability; mixing model; tunable screen.